by Shannon Butler

We might sound like a broken record here, but have we mentioned that it’s the 125th anniversary for Adriance Memorial Library? That’s right! Come and see us this Saturday from 1pm to 3pm for all sorts of fun activities (brownie points if you come dressed in 1890s clothing!) We will have a little bit of everything, from fun games to early documents that showcase our history. In an earlier post, we told you about how the library came to be at its current location. It was such a big deal that even the New York Times and the New York Tribune picked up the story and shared photos of the beautiful new library.

Over a century has passed, with thousands of books loaned and thousands of library cards issued since we first opened our doors on October 18, 1898. During the past few weeks we have been digging through our collections to find interesting pieces to showcase for Saturday’s event and we have found everything from old blueprints to “no spitting” signs (we’ll have them all on display this Saturday). In the months after opening day, the library was filled with more “sightseers” who were taking in the new building than with people studying. By March of 1899 the Poughkeepsie Eagle News proclaimed that, “Patronage of the reading room at the library increases Sunday afternoons. The number of sightseers has dwindled, and those who now come, come to read.”

Back in the early days of the library, and when the Poughkeepsie Journal was a much thicker newspaper to read, a list of new books entering circulation was published each month in the paper. Interestingly, authors that we know to be famous today might not have been when they were first published. Take, for example, F. Scott Fitzgerald; we didn’t have any of his books until after his death (P.S. We have a lot now!). The newspaper also published weird mentions from the staff at the library. For example, in 1899, a popular book entitled “Better Dead” by J.M. Barrie had, “come back from the last borrower with a dead fly stuck to the date slip right on the title.”

Based on the reports of the library’s circulation, fiction has always won out as the most borrowed. In 1907, the Poughkeepsie Eagle News proclaimed, “It is of course well known that only a comparatively small number of the people who make use of city libraries appreciate their opportunities fully and read books of educational or literary value.” They went on to say that, “In spite of our supposed national love for education, the majority of the people get enough of it in the public schools and fight shy of anything that they suspect may have an educational purpose when they finally escape from school.” This is, of course, a strong assumption. However, there were 5,000 registered card holders that year, and the number of fictional books borrowed was over 50,000, whereas the combined number of books that concerned different areas of study, like philosophy, science, history, and religion, didn’t even come close.

Of course, the way the library serves the public has changed over the past 125 years. We still have real books and periodicals that you can hold in your hands, but there is so much more now than in the days of old John Sickley (the library’s first director). There are more things to borrow like laptops, telescopes, and passes to museums. We also offer several classes and more outreach programs than ever. You don’t even need to come into the library to borrow a book; the e-library is available at all times! Imagine what else the library will do in the next 125 years!

References:

Poughkeepsie Eagle News:

8 Mar 1899, 2 Sep 1899, 24 Jan 1907

Images:

Greenbinder_036_RefRoom – Photo showing people studying inside the original Reference Room, now the Local History room. 1950

PEN-Jan-1907 – Poughkeepsie Eagle News article showing the kinds of books borrowed from Adriance Memorial Library, 1907.